Recap NBL1 South | Round 1 Wednesday

Defending NBL1 South champions the Bendigo Braves women and Knox Raiders men sent an opening night message with impressive wins while Alicia Froling starred for the Raiders as did Luke Rosendale for the Ballarat Miners.

There were three women's matches on Wednesday to open the NBL1 South season with the Bendigo Braves defeating the Ballarat Miners 88-46, the Ringwood Hawks defeating the Kilsyth Cobras 83-55, and the Knox Raiders downing the Sandringham Sabres 80-75.

The corresponding men's fixtures saw the Miners beat the Braves 97-86 while Ringwood defeated Kilsyth 94-65, and Knox downed Sandringham 109-93.

WOMEN

Ballarat Miners (46) lost to Bendigo Braves (88)

The championship defence of the Bendigo Braves started in dominant fashion with Amy Atwell hitting five three-pointers in the 88-46 victory away to the Ballarat Miners.

The two regional Victorian powers opened the NBL1 South season at Selkirk Stadium on Wednesday night. Coming off their undefeated 2023 where they won both the NBL1 South and National Championships, it was a tall order for the Miners hosting the Braves.

It proved just the case too with Bendigo extending their advantage at every change leading by seven points at quarter-time, 18 at the half, 32 at three quarter-time and then ending up winning by 42 points to open the new season in ominous fashion.

Fresh off being a key part of the Perth Lynx's WNBL run to the Grand Final and putting up 30 points in Game 1 of that series against the Southside Flyers, Amy Atwell kept her form going for Bendigo with 25 points, six steals, five blocks, four rebounds and two assists while hitting 5/10 from behind the three-point arc.

Megan McKay was a dominant force last season for the Braves too and started off 2024 right where she left off with 21 points, 13 rebounds and three assists with new signing Ally Wilson producing 12 points, five rebounds and two steals.

Cassidy McLean also scored 14 points to go with four assists while Kasey Burton pulled down 12 rebounds and Kelly Wilson dished out seven assists.

Alex Bunton finished with 14 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks for Ballarat with Jemma Amoore adding seven points and two assists but shooting 27 per cent as a team from the field and getting to the foul line twice the entire game made life tough.

Bendigo heads home to unfurl their championship banner now on Saturday against the Waverley Falcons with the Miners remaining at home on Sunday to the Geelong United Supercats at 12pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.

BALLARAT MINERS 46 (Bunton 14, Amoore 7, Simpson 6, Cracknell 6, Wehrung 6)

BENDIGO BRAVES 88 (Atwell 25, McKay 21, A Wilson 12)

Ringwood Hawks (83) defeated Kilsyth Cobras (55)

The Ringwood Hawks were NBL1 South champions back in 2022 and made an impressive start to the 2024 season beating the Kilsyth Cobras 83-55 at home on Wednesday night.

The Hawks hosted the Cobras to open the season at Norwood Secondary College and they started well with 22 points to 16 in the opening quarter and never looked back.

Ringwood would go on to lead 46-28 at the half before winning by 28 points on the back of shooting 12/27 from three-point territory and restricting Kilsyth to just 26.5 per cent from the floor.

Jack Animam made an impressive debut for Ringwood finishing with 19 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists with Ahlise Hurst adding 15 points with 3/7 from beyond the three-point arc.

Aneta Bandilovska also had 11 points, six assists and five rebounds, Lana Hollingsworth nine points and four assists, and Hailey Wynd eight points and four rebounds.

Nikita Young top-scored for Kilsyth with 15 points and five rebounds with Georgia Booth contributing nine points and five boards, and Tegan Cunningham eight points, four steals and three rebounds.

The Hawks have a short turnaround to playing away to the Nunawading Spectres on Friday night while the Cobras are at home to the Knox Raiders on Saturday at 5:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.

RINGWOOD HAWKS 83 (Animam 19, Hurst 15, Bandilovska 11)

KILSYTH COBRAS 55 (Young 15, Booth 9, Cunningham 8)

Sandringham Sabres (75) lost to KNOX RAIDERS (80)

The close game of opening night took place at Southern Basketball Stadium with the Knox Raiders holding out the Sandringham Sabres 80-75.

The Raiders started well away from home leading 23-18 by quarter-time but it was a tight affair all evening with Knox's 14-point lead during the third quarter the highest margin throughout.

The Raiders were still leading by 13 points with just under five minutes to go after Rachel Bell knocked down a three ball and scored another jumper.

Sandringham weren’t done, though, and Eilidh Simpson hit a couple of three-pointers and Klara Wischer scored again to make things interesting after she was part of a WNBL championship at the Southside Flyers.

Wischer then landed a three ball with almost 1:30 remaining to make it a four-point ball game, and Britt Smart made the margin three shortly after when she scored for the Sabres.

Bell responded for Knox with a jumper and that proved the dagger blow with the Raiders holding on for the five-point win.

Alicia Froling made a strong start to the new season with 31 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and two steals for Knox with Rachel Bell putting up 18 points and five boards.

Paige Bradley added 15 points, eight assists and four rebounds while Leah Santomaggio finished with nine points and two boards.

Funda Nakkasoglu produced 22 points for Sandringham while Britt Smart ended up with 20 points, Klara Wischer 14 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots, and Eilidh Simpson nine points, eight boards, four assists and four steals.

The Raiders remain on the road to play the Kilsyth Cobras on Saturday night with the Sabres hosting the Mount Gambier Pioneers at 5:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 75 (Nakkasoglu 22, Smart 20, Wischer 14)

KNOX RAIDERS 80 (Froling 31, Bell 18, Bradley 15)

MEN

Ballarat Miners (97) defeated Bendigo Braves (86)

It's a new look Ballarat Miners in 2024 and they made a winning start at home on Wednesday night to beat the Bendigo Braves 97-86.

The Miners and Braves opened the NBL1 South season at Selkirk Stadium on Wednesday night and the two teams put on a terrific contest headed up by West Australian coaches, Luke Brennan and Stephen Black.

Brennan is in his first season coaching at Ballarat with the former Perth Wildcats assistant coach moving to the South East Melbourne Phoenix for NBL24, and now remaining in Victoria to pick up the role at the Miners.

There's plenty of new faces with Ballarat too but it took until the fourth quarter for them to pull away from Bendigo in front of their home fans.

It was a single-figure ball game all evening with both teams having their time in front, but the Miners then put up 33 points in the final period on the way to the eventual 11-point victory.

Luke Rosendale is fresh off an NBL season as a development player at the Phoenix as well where Brennan was part of the coaching staff. He showed his improvement will continue with 28 points, eight rebounds and four assists on 5/10 three-point shooting.

Tyler Rudolph had a strong performance first up too with 26 points and eight rebounds on 10/14 field goal shooting while Max Cody contributed 16 points and two assists, Nick Stoddart eight points and five assists, and Makuel Puondak eight points and five rebounds.

Andrew Robinson was impressive first up for Bendigo with 28 points and six rebounds while nailing 5/12 from behind the three-point line with Lakeside Lightning NBL1 West recruit Rowan Mackenzie making his NBL1 South debut with 22 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and two steals.

Dylan McCauley added 11 points and Koch Bar seven to go with six rebounds and four blocked shots.

Bendigo head home to host the Waverley Falcons on Saturday night at 8pm while Ballarat remains home to host the Geelong United Supercats on Sunday at 2pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.

BALLARAT MINERS 97 (Rosendale 28, Rudolph 26, Cody 16)

BENDIGO BRAVES 86 (Robinson 28, Mackenzie 22, McCauley 11)

Ringwood Hawks (94) defeated Kilsyth Cobras (65)

With Jonathan Lawton on fire, the Ringwood Hawks opened the NBL1 South season in dominant fashion beating the Kilsyth Cobras 94-65 at home on Wednesday night.

Ringwood opened the season hosting Kilsyth at Norwood Secondary College on opening night and opened up a handy gap with 30 points to 15 in the second quarter to go into half-time leading 55-33.

It was another 25 points to 14 in the third period from the Hawks on the way to the eventual 29-point win on the back of shooting 44 per cent from the field to 30 from Kilsyth.

Captain Jonathan Lawton produced an outstanding performance in the win for Ringwood with 30 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

Ngor Nai also put in a strong showing with 20 points, nine rebounds and two blocks with Bayley Rough contributing 11 points, five boards and two blocked shots, and Matt Roberts nine points and seven rebounds.

Kyle Adnam joined the Illawarra Hawks late in the NBL season and is playing at Kilsyth for this NBL1 South campaign, and he had 23 points, five rebounds and three assists on opening night.

Joshua Duach also had 12 points and four rebounds for the Cobras, Abe Nyok nine points and five boards, and Adrian Tomada seven points, two rebounds and two assists.

Ringwood have a short turnaround to playing away to the Nunawading Spectres on Friday night while Kilsyth is at home to the Knox Raiders on Saturday at 7:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.

RINGWOOD HAWKS 94 (Lawton 30, Nai 20, Rough 11)

KILSYTH COBRAS 65 (Adnam 23, Duach 12, Nyok 9)

Sandringham Sabres (93) lost to Knox Raiders (109)

The defending NBL1 South and National Champion Knox Raiders have made a winning start to their 2024 season beating the Sandringham Sabres 109-93 to open proceedings.

It was in the second quarter where the Raiders put a gap between themselves and the Sabres with 38 points to 20 as they turned an 11-point deficit to a 62-47 half-time advantage on the back of a stunning 20-2 run in the final three minutes going into the break.

Knox were able to extend that lead out to as much as 21 points in the fourth quarter before winning by 16 on the back of what they did to win the NBL1 South championship, and then despite being heavily undermanned, winning the National Finals in inspirational fashion over in Perth.

KJ Feagin came up huge in all that success Knox enjoyed to close the 2023 season. He started off 2024 on fire with 26 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Brody Nunn added 20 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals with Austin Rapp contributing 16 points and seven rebounds, Malith Machar 13 points and six boards, Anzac Rissetto 11 points and six rebounds, and Javonte Perkins 10 points and six boards.

It was quite the effort for Kyle Bowen to suit up for Knox too and finish with 13 points and nine rebounds and play almost 27 minutes just three days after being part of the NBL Championship Series for Melbourne United against the Tasmania JackJumpers.

CJ Asuncion-Byrd did all he could to keep Sandringham in the contest with 26 points on 5/7 three-point shooting.

Joel Foxwell also put up 18 points, six rebounds and six assists while Ned Dillon contributed 13 points and three boards, and Tom Koppens 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Raiders back up on the road to the Kilsyth Cobras on Saturday night while the Sabres host the Mount Gambier Pioneers at the same time at 7:30pm local time via NBL1.com.au or the NBL1 App.

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 93 (Asuncion-Byrd 26, Foxwell 18, Dillon 13)

KNOX RAIDERS 109 (Feagin 26, Nunn 20, Rapp 16)